Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Mesopotamia: The Legend of Gilgamesh

Background on the Story of Gilgamesh"The
story of the god-man Gilgamesh is one of the oldest stories in the
world; it was inscribed onto clay tablets over 5,000 years ago in
Mesopotamia. There are many versions of the story but the first people
who told it were called Sumerians and Gilgamesh was once their king. The
people who lived in Mesopotamia discovered many things: irrigation, the
wheel, the first codes of law, the 60-minute hour, and most important,
writing. Without writing the epic of Gilgamesh would certainly have been
lost. The Sumerians, and later other Mesopotamians such as the
Akkadians, Babylonians, and Assyrians, wrote the story in cuneiform, the
first script in the world." - Ludmila Zeman, Gilgamesh the King

Read-Aloud: Gilgamesh the KingToday we will be reading together the story Gilgamesh the King,
retold and illustrated by Ludmila Zeman. Some consider Gilgamesh to be
the world's first literary superhero. As we read, see if you can find
any connections or parallels between Gilgamesh and other superheroes you
are familiar with.

The British Museum Website: "Gilgamesh and the Cedar Forest" Want
to explore another tale of Gilgamesh and his adventures? Check out the
interactive story of "Gilgamesh and the Cedar Forest" at the British
Museum's website here.